Hemimegalencephaly

What it is

Hemimegalencephaly is a rare cerebral malformation characterized by overgrowth of all or part of a cerebral hemisphere, often with ipsilateral severe cortical dysplasia or dysgenesis, white matter hypertrophy and dilated lateral ventricle, presenting in early infancy with progressive hemiparesis, severe psychomotor retardation and intractable seizures. Hemimegalencephaly may be an isolated finding or associated with other syndromes such as angioosteohypertrophic syndrome, epidermal nevus syndrome and Ito hypomelanosis. Management includes seizure control by antiepileptic medications and early hemispherectomy.

Key facts

Age of onset

Infancy

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Malformation syndrome

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

Genes

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references